


Slippery When Wet

by halfwit



Series: In Sickness and In Health [9]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Adorable Castiel, Adorable Dean, Boys on vacation, But it'snot really nepotism, But not too sad, Dean is a little self-conscious, Domestic Castiel/Dean Winchester, Domestic Dean Winchester, Fluff, For me the angst is low, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, Sick Dean, The author's daughter has a role, There is one sad part, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 05:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5035615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfwit/pseuds/halfwit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean and Castiel finally make it to their secret vacation destination. Dean is surprised with where they went, but he ends up having a great time, and making a new friend along the way. Dean and Castiel have a chance to have a little married time together away from the specter of Dean's illness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slippery When Wet

**Author's Note:**

> I have been wanting to write this installment for a long time, but I just never got around to getting it down - I am very pleased that I finally am able to share it with you.

Dean pushed open the door and felt his eyes practically bug out of his head like a character out of a Looney Tunes cartoon. This is where Castiel wanted them to spend their vacation? Dean’s eyes darted around trying to take in as many of the sights as possible, while just barely avoiding putting his hands over his ears to shield them from all the noise. Dean Winchester got on a plane to come _here_?

When Castiel sprung the surprise trip on him, Dean was curious as to what his husband had in store – maybe a trip to Hollywood, or down to San Diego for Comic Con, or maybe even a trip to New York City to do some touristy things and see a Broadway show…not that Dean was in to Broadway shows, but if they happened to get tickets to _Wicked_ , he would have suffered through; you know, for Castiel. But, this was something completely unexpected.

The plane trip was bad enough. Dean was man enough to admit he was terrified to fly, and not even the four mini bottles of his old friend Jack Daniels had been enough to keep him completely calm. And the fact that Castiel fell asleep ten minutes into the flight without telling Dean exactly where they were going wasn’t helping either – smug bastard. All the subterfuge and planning for them to end up in Sandusky, Ohio, at an indoor waterpark called Great Wolf Lodge, which is where Dean currently finds himself, husbandless and somewhat bewildered.

Walking further through the glass doors, Dean quickly scans the area, keeping a lookout for his wayward husband. Castiel told Dean to head down to the water park to get familiar with what he wanted to do, there was something Castiel wanted to do first, and before Dean could say he would come along, his dark-haired husband – who Dean would swear was part ninja – had disappeared out the door, leaving Dean alone and somewhat uncomfortable with the prospect of putting on a swimsuit.

Since starting back on chemotherapy and having to shave his head, Dean had become a little self-conscious when it came to his body. He knew he never had the perfect physique before, he hated the cinnamon-sprinkled freckles that dotted his entire body, and his stomach never was completely free of just that little bit of pudge by his belly button; but, he always made an effort to take care of his body – even when it didn’t return the favor.

While he never considered himself hot, he was aware of the appreciative gazes of men and women whenever he and his husband would go to the beach. Now, he hadn’t been allowed in the sun for the six weeks he had been undergoing his treatments: Benny was afraid direct exposure to sunlight would have a bad reaction to the chemicals. Between his residency, treatments, and helping Bobby and Ellen fully settle in California, Dean hadn’t even had a chance to get his usual exercises in – that, plus the fact that he wasn’t able to hold much food down, he felt uncomfortable baring his body in public.

Just when he was ready to head back out away from the splashing and general frivolity around him and head back to the general quiet of his room, he felt a small tug at his hand. Startled, he looked down into a pair of big, brown eyes, sweet, chubby cheeks, and a messy ponytail that was wet at the bottom and dry at the top.

“Um, hi,” Dean said, to the little girl who was gripping his hand tightly now that he was looking at her.

“Hi,” came the immediate reply. “Are you lost?”

“Um…” smooth, Winchester, really smooth, Dean thought to himself. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that, sweetheart?”

“I’m not lost, there’s my Daddy over there,” the little girl pointed to a harried looking man who was wandering around a tall plastic tree in the middle of a kiddie pool. “You looked sad, and whenever I look like that, I’m usually lost.”

Dean felt a warmth grow in his chest at the innocence of this little girl, and her kind heart to make sure he was okay, even though he was a stranger…speaking of which.

“I bet your Daddy wouldn’t be too happy to know you were talking to a stranger though, what do you think, Princess?” Dean replied with a warm smile.

“Oh, I’m Desi,” came the immediate reply, along with a hand being held out for Dean to shake, which he did without hesitation.

“Dean,” he replied solemnly, taking pleasure in the small girl’s presence.

“See,” she reasoned, “now you’re not a stranger.”

“I guess I’m not,” the green-eyed man replied with a chuckle.

“Now have you gotten to see the big bucket, yet?” she asked clapping her hands together in glee.

“Big bucket?” Dean replied, brow furrowing in puzzlement. “No, I don’t think so.”

Before he could say anything, the six-foot-two, still solidly built grown man was being led to the middle of the water park, by a pint-size girl that barely came up to his waist. While part of Dean wanted to wait for Castiel, he couldn’t help but be caught up in the child’s enthusiasm.

The unlikely duo didn’t walk far before they stopped in the center of the water park. During their brief jaunt, Dean began to hear a bell dinging insistently in the background. No one seemed particularly worried, so he didn’t think there was any danger.

“So, where is this big bucket, Desi?” Dean queried, turning to look at his small friend, only to find her standing back over by the kiddie pool, waving manically at him, face lit with a mischievous grin.

Opening his mouth to call to the tyke, Dean heard a rush of water and looked up to see gallons of water falling from a huge bucket in the middle of the park. He – and everyone around him – got drenched in the contents from the receptacle. Because he had been ready to call to Desi, Dean got a mouthful of water, and sputtered to clear his mouth, nose, and eyes.

When he was able to see clearly again, he noticed Desi clinging to his hand and jumping with glee.

“Wasn’t that fun, Mr. Dean?” she enthused jumping up and down like she was on a pogo stick. “You looked so silly when the big bucket dumped on you. Let’s do it again!”

“Yes, Mr. Dean,” a gravel-laced, familiar voice seconded. “I think you should do it again. I don’t think I got a good enough video the first time.”

Dean looked up to see his husband grinning at him like a loon, camera phone well in hand. The green-eyed man wanted to dunk his husband under the big bucket to pay him back for that.

“Who are you?” came an imperious question from a haughty little girl.

The young Winchester looked down and saw his new friend standing in front on him, in an imitation of a defensive pose. Despite being dripping wet and slightly chilled from his misadventure under the bucket, Dean felt his heart warm at how protective the little girl was of him.

Castiel had a fond and amused look on his face as he took in the tableau of this little warrior protecting his husband from an unknown “attacker.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Dean said, kneeling down on the slippery tiles beside Desi. “He’s with me.”

The little girl looked skeptical of this and looked between the two men. For a moment, Dean’s felt a thrum of panic – would the little girl not respond well to the idea of two men being together?

“ _This_ is your grown up?” Desi asked, little eyebrows practically disappearing under her messy hair.

Not trusting his voice, Dean nodded, and looked over at Castiel, who was wearing a similarly concerned expression.

“You shouldn’t have let Mr. Dean go off alone,” the little girl reprimanded Castiel. “Everyone needs to have a buddy when they go to the water park, so they don’t get lost.”

“And I think someone should take her own advice,” came a new, masculine voice from behind Dean.

The trio turned around to see a heavy-set man with fogged up glasses crossing his arms over his chest.

“Hi Dada,” came Desi’s bright reply as she walked easily over to him. “This is Mr. Dean and Mr. Dean’s grown up.”

“Desi, what did I say about bothering people while we were down here,” the other man began.

“Oh no, sir,” Dean immediately jumped in to the rescue. “She wasn’t bothering us. She was keeping me company until my husband could join me.”

“See Dada,” the six-year-old said with pride, “I was being a good girl.”

The older man smiled fondly down at his daughter, and gave her a loving squeeze. “You are always my good girl; but, now you should say good-bye to your friends, we are going to meet Mummy and your cousins for dinner.”

“Aww, do we have to go?” Desi pouted. The little girl looked so cute that Dean practically had to bite his cheek off to keep from laughing out loud.

“Yes we have to,” came the exasperated reply.

“I never get to have any fun,” was the overly dramatic response.

“Thank you so much, my lady Desi, for keeping me company,” Dean said with an exaggerated bow, causing the little girl to giggle.

“You’re silly, Mr. Dean,” she said as she came up to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“That he is, little one,” agreed Castiel, blue eyes sparkling with happiness.

“Bye, Mr. Dean. Bye, Mr. Dean’s grown up,” Desi said, waving as she took her Dada’s hand to walk out of the park.

Dean waved back until the little girl was no longer in sight. He hadn’t had that much fun goofing off in a long time. They hadn’t been together long, but he had truly enjoyed being in the little girl’s company.

Lost in his thoughts, the brown-haired man was surprised to feel two strong arms wrap themselves around his waist and tug him back against a firm, well-muscled chest. Dean relaxed back into his husband’s embrace easily, feeling content.

“I should know better than to leave you alone,” Castiel mock-reproached. “I can’t leave you for five minutes before your replacing me with a younger model.”

The taller man barked out a laugh, throwing his head back to rest on Castiel’s shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s me, babe,” Dean said. “I’m just biding my time to find the next Mr. or Mrs. Winchester.”

Turning around in the embrace so he was eye-to-eye and green could meet blue, Dean looked at his husband, who was every bit as handsome as the day they first met.

“You are a fool if you think I would ever give you up,” Dean said, sincerity burning in his gaze as he willed Castiel to see the truth. Dean knew the blue-eyed man had been joking around, but with Dean’s recent health scare, he knew there was some truth to the teasing as well.

“Just don’t want you going where I can’t follow,” Castiel replied, blue eyes suddenly swimming in a light film of tears. Dean knew this was something his husband had been feeling more recently – knew that Castiel had been seeing a counselor to deal with these emotions.

“You aren’t getting rid of me that easily, Mr. Novak-Winchester,” Dean replied lightly, trying to diffuse some of the seriousness. “Although, I think I am going to walk away from our current location, because that damn bell is starting to ring again, and I don’t want to get wetter.”

Castiel choked out a mix between a laugh and a sob and grabbed Dean’s hand, the two of them just barely making it out of the splash radius in time.

Dean found his chance encounter with young Desi helped to brighten his mood and set him more at ease. Once he relaxed, he found Castiel really had picked a great location for their small getaway.

The couple splashed each other and got overly competitive in a game of water basketball. Took a little rest as they floated down the lazy river. Dean was absolutely in love with the Jacuzzi and could have spent the rest of his time in the soothing warm water that practically melted all the tension in his shoulders, but Castiel convinced him to at least try one of the water slides (which Dean hated to admit was a lot more fun that he thought).

Turns out, Castiel had a whole adventure planned for them. Not only did they frolic in the water park, the lodge had an interactive game throughout the grounds called MagiQuest. Castiel bought them both wands and wizard robes and the two searched for clues. They probably were too old to play the game, but Castiel knew how much his husband loved Harry Potter, and he couldn’t resist giving Dean a chance to play knight errant. It was a silly game, but they got to explore every crevice of the lodge and got to act like the young twenty-somethings they actually were, instead of having their usual responsibilities crashing down around them.

And, proving that Castiel was Dean’s perfect man, the day before they were ready to fly back to California, the dark-haired man pulled up in a sleek, rented convertible and asked Dean if he wanted to go for a drive: Dean didn’t hesitate to get in the car.

They drove for about an hour, Castiel staying silent as to their destination, and Dean getting bored with asking about ten minutes in. So the pair got the chance to talk about everything and nothing, and when they pulled up in front of the post-modern structure that housed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Castiel knew he would have sold his soul to see the joy radiating in his husband’s eyes. Dean was like a kid at an amusement park.

By the end of the day, their feet were sore – and Dean was so calling dibs on the Jacuzzi – and they had seen every square inch of the museum, Dean’s radiant smile beckoning one of Castiel’s own. The pair held hands and geeked out over awesome music. Dean thought he was in Heaven when he saw the Led Zeppelin display, and Castiel adored the Jimi Hendrix area.

Exhausted, but completely happy, Dean snuggled in to his husband on the plane for their return flight.

“Nervous?” Castiel asked, worried for his husband after the negative reaction he had on the way out.

“Naw, babe, I’m good,” Dean said, sleepily, his head resting heavily on Castiel’s shoulder.

“Me, too,” the shorter man said with a gummy grin, lacing his fingers with Dean’s own.

Dean surprised Castiel by surging up briefly and smacking a passionate, yet brief, kiss on the other’s lips.

“What was that for?” Castiel asked with a pleased smile. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“Just thanks,” Dean said, smile so brilliant it could light an entire building. “I’m the luckiest bastard in the world to have you as my husband.”

“No, that would be me,” Castiel replied contentedly, finding a comfortable position for his head in the seat cushion.

“However, don’t think you got away with uploading that video of me and the bucket to YouTube without me knowing,” Dean said, pulling away to smile wickedly at the love of his life. “I think that will deserve some serious payback.”

Shivering in excitement – and some worry as to what devious torture Dean would create – Castiel couldn’t help but continue to smile back at the man who was the center of his universe. “Bring it, Winchester.”

Dean didn’t have a chance to reply, sleep already pulling him under. Castiel ran his fingers through his husband’s sandy brown locks for another few moments before sleep claimed him, too – exhausted, but utterly happy. He was so glad they had taken this trip and had a chance to make such wonderful memories together…just the two of them, and some new friends along the way.

**Author's Note:**

> I promised there would be a nice fluffy little vacation interlude - however, because this is me, and the overall series is dealing with illness, the good times are not going to last. Things are going to get quite bumpy for our favorite pair, but I couldn't resist giving them a super fluffy, dorky vacation.
> 
> Couple of things to point out - Desi, the little girl who befriends our Dean, is my daughter. When I decided to send Dean and Cas on vacation, my hubby and I were talking about where I was going to send them. I really was thinking of the beach, or ComicCon, or New York. I forget where my husband wanted to send them; but, my six-year-old daughter was adamant that they needed to go to Great Wolf Lodge, which is her favorite place on earth, and is quite fun if you can get up to Sandusky, Ohio. She has been pestering me for more than a month now to write about Dean and Cas going to Great Wolf; so, I felt it only fair that she was in the story, too.
> 
> Let me know what you think, I do hope you enjoyed it. I had an absolute blast writing this one. All my love to you all!


End file.
